Everyone’s favorite snack food is 75 years old. Few of us haven’t tried Twinkies and some of us absolutely love them. I admit that I loved Twinkies when I was a kid.
But I haven’t had a Twinkie for many, many years now. Not since I heard the myth that they were so filled with preservatives that they would last forever, and I concluded that if bacteria and mold wouldn’t even eat them that human beings shouldn’t eat them either!
Apparently that is a myth. The Interstate Bakeries Corp. which is the parent company of Hostess claims that the actual shelf life of a Twinkie is about 25 days. Not forever, but still a long time, especially for a baked, pastry type product.
Still as for the snack facts, Twinkies are 150 calories each, with 1/3 of that fat (trans fat). There are 25 grams of simple carbohydrates, 1 gram of protien, 0 grams of fiber. A Twinkie contains 2% of the RDA for Iron but no vitamin A, vitamin C or calcium. In short a Twinkie is 150 empty calories, essentially devoid of nutrients.
But who among us hasn’t eaten food that is completely devoid of nutrients just because it tasted good? The key is to be aware. If you do choose to snack on Twinkies, know what you are ingesting–150 calories of non-nutritious junk that just happens to taste good.
